5.56 Nato convertion in 223 Rem

Read your post last night and it occurred to me that no one mentioned that if you're using military brass you will probably have to "remove" the primer crimp on those Lake City brass. They make special tools for this but I use my RCBS deburing/champher tool. Just a couple of twist back and forth and it's enough so small rifle primers will fit nicely. As a matter of fact, that's the type of brass I use for my .223.
 
The military brass has a slightly lesser case capacity (thicker web and walls), so a 22.0-grain load of Powder X in a .223 case may be too much in a 5.56mm case. Best thing to do is to start a grain or two low and work up in 0.2-grain increments until pressure signs start to show. A very good indicator of overpressure is the primer being smooth and flat across the head of the case. There will be no radius on the edge of the primer where it meets the brass of the case. This is referred to as a "flat" primer. When you push the spent primer out of the primer pocket, you'll see a small ledge where the pressure of combustion forced the primer material into the chamfer of the primer pocket.

I am curious as to why you are reloading the .223Rem and/or 5.56mm NATO in the UK. I was under the impression that it was illegal to have a rifle chambered in a modern combat chambering-- such as the 5.56mm NATO-- in the EU. Britain left the EU just yesterday and as of today, is its own sovereign and independent nation again after 47 years. I suspect the English will like Liberty. We Americans are willing to fight and to die to keep ours...
 
The military brass has a slightly lesser case capacity (thicker web and walls), so a 22.0-grain load of Powder X in a .223 case may be too much in a 5.56mm case. Best thing to do is to start a grain or two low and work up in 0.2-grain increments until pressure signs start to show. A very good indicator of overpressure is the primer being smooth and flat across the head of the case. There will be no radius on the edge of the primer where it meets the brass of the case. This is referred to as a "flat" primer. When you push the spent primer out of the primer pocket, you'll see a small ledge where the pressure of combustion forced the primer material into the chamfer of the primer pocket.

I am curious as to why you are reloading the .223Rem and/or 5.56mm NATO in the UK. I was under the impression that it was illegal to have a rifle chambered in a modern combat chambering-- such as the 5.56mm NATO-- in the EU. Britain left the EU just yesterday and as of today, is its own sovereign and independent nation again after 47 years. I suspect the English will like Liberty. We Americans are willing to fight and to die to keep ours...
Hello Sir
First of i,ll let u know i m not from uk i k from pakistan and Hunting Enthusiust..
We have too mutch restrictons facing here like ammo reloading acceries not available like powder and primers..
We pay 5$ for each 223rem round can u imagine?
5.56 Nato ammo is cheap here like we Got 3rounds in one usd..thats why i m tryning to save my money to Convert 5.56 in 223rem i have Nosler Ballastic tip 55grain..
My question is very simple if i want to remove 62grain Tip of 5.56Nato and install 55grain nosler and fire in my 223rem so what i can do for this..thats it
Hope u understand
 
Since folks here are basically hunters round life on barrels is probably not a problem. For those that load a lot ball propellant is generally more erosive on barrels than stick propellant.

Case in point, during the M16A1E1 (adopted as M16A2) the initial test ammo with 62 gr bullets loaded by Lake City had he barrels right at rejection (anything about 7.2" at 100 yards was failure point) The barrels were printing 7" at only 4800 rounds and were really gone at 6000. Same testing was conducted with FN SS109 and barrels were 7.1" at 12,000 rounds. Lake City loads ball propellant in 5.56.
 

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